this, that she never for one moment allowed herself to think of Lord
Colambre as a lover. Duty, honour, and gratitude--gratitude, the strong
feeling and principle of her mind--forbade it; she had so prepared and
habituated herself to consider him as a person with whom she could not
possibly be united that, with perfect ease and simplicity, she behaved
towards him exactly as if he was her brother--not in the equivocating
sentimental romance style in which ladies talk of treating men as
their brothers, whom they are all the time secretly thinking of and
endeavouring to please as lovers--not using this phrase as a convenient
pretence, a safe mode of securing herself from suspicion or scandal, and
of enjoying the advantages of confidence and the intimacy of friendship,
till the propitious moment, when it should be time to declare or
avow THE SECRET OF THE HEART. No; this young lady was quite above
all double-dealing; she had no mental reservation--no metaphysical
subtleties--but, with plain, unsophisticated morality, in good faith
and simple truth, acted as she professed, thought what she said, and was
that which she seemed to be.

As soon as Lady Clonbrony was able to see anybody, her niece sent to
Mrs. Broadhurst, who was very intimate with the family; she used to
come frequently, almost every evening, to sit with the invalid. Miss
Broadhurst accompanied her mother, for she did not like to go out with
any other chaperon--it was disagreeable to spend her time alone at home,
and most agreeable to spend it with her friend Miss Nugent. In this
she had no design, no coquetry; Miss Broadhurst had too lofty and
independent a spirit to stoop to coquetry: she thought that, in their
interview at the gala, she understood Lord Colambre, and that
he understood her--that he was not inclined to court her for her
fortune--that she would not be content with any suitor who was not a
lover. She was two or three years older than Lord Colambre, perfectly